Food Safety and Hygiene must be a priority while choosing a Private Label partner

Sanjiv Roy
Created by Sanjiv Roy Nov 10, 2020

Food Safety and Hygiene must be a priority while choosing a Private Label partner

While trust is the cornerstone for a private label partnership, food safety and hygiene also assume equal significance in the process of selecting a private label partner. The commitment to consistent quality brings robust growth to the business partners. Hence, for any established business or a start-up owner, it is crucial to choose a private label partner who accords absolute priority to food safety and hygiene norms. 

Importance of Food Safety and Hygiene

All players in the food industry place major emphasis on food safety and food hygiene these days. Any contamination in the food items can affect people across various countries. Such an incident has a detrimental impact on the prospects of a business establishment. On the other hand, good food hygiene practices augment the goodwill of a business unit, leading to positive impact on the inflow of revenues. Therefore, a private label partner engaged in private label tea and private label tea bags has to follow strict hygiene-related norms and ensure food safety otherwise the business prospects of the clients get adversely affected. The ongoing pandemic has aggravated the need to have food safety and food hygiene. It becomes difficult to do business if the private label partner does not follow the safety norms and hygiene practices inside the campus despite gentle reminders.
                       
Food safety and food hygiene efforts involve safeguarding all food-related items, including packing material, machinery and equipment utilized in the entire packing process from contaminants that are categorized as microbiological, physical, and chemical. Food Safety Management System (FSMS) comprises the sum total of hygienic practices, food handling processes and related systems. This is fundamental to establishing a strong and reliable brand in the market. The first move in this direction begins with training of personnel involved in the handling processes to get aware of food safety and hygiene and follow the guidelines in totality. Therefore, a private label tea partner must have a workforce that complies with the norms pertaining to safety and hygiene.

Private label tea

A private label partner should have world-class machinery. These machines are important to install at the premises not only because these are high-speed or capable of producing both pyramid and square tea bags, but more importantly because the environment is kept clean to optimise the performance of these hi-tech machines. The private label tea partner has the facility designed in collaboration with global giants, and maintains international standards of food safety and hygiene.

 Holistic approach


While food safety and hygiene are given due importance, a superficial approach does not prove effective in the long term. Whether it is private label tea bags or private label tea, the right private label partner ensures food safety and hygiene by implementing multiple steps for everything it handles. 

Standardized Processes


All materials arriving at the facility, including raw materials such as tea, infusions, spices, or fruits, have to undergo inward quality check. Registration with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a pre-requisite that entails all the personnel employed at the business unit are aware of the basic food safety regulations and the criteria for food safety are met with standard procedures and systems. Additional inspections and checks are carried out by the FSSAI from time to time to ensure compliance to the rules and regulations.
The experienced team of Blenders and Tasters evaluate samples and taste thousands of cups of teas in a week before picking up the best teas. This check rules out the presence of adulterants such as colouring agents or fillers.
All incoming vehicles are checked to see if it is clean inside, secured and covered, to ensure there is no foreign material underneath or over the floor cover, to check there is no taint or unusual odour. All bags are checked at the time of unloading for structural integrity.  

Efficient Infrastructure and Storage

Choose the one who has efficient infrastructure and storage. For efficient space management, it is essential that everything has a space. The right private label partner should design the facility keeping this in mind.  
Optimizing Storage Conditions


A big storage space allows segregation of materials according to their nature. Raw material (tea, infusions, spices, fruits, flavours), packing materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods are stored in respective designated areas to prevent any possibility of cross-contamination. The storage area is cleaned periodically to maintain a hygienic storage condition. The stacking of the bags is allowed only up to a maximum height of 6 ft from the pallet. This prevents any accidental falling of bag, which may result in damage to the bag and thereby possible contamination of the tea. The specialty teas like dessert teas, flavoured teas, infusions are stored in a temperature-controlled cold room. Work-in-progress teas are stored in a deep freezer which maintains an average of 0 degrees temperature. Different packing materials are kept away from each other. To ensure safety and hygiene standards of private label tea and private label teabags, authorized staff members are given access to the production facility.


Additional controls

Double-door entrances, fine mesh nets on windows/ventilators, high-power air curtains are in place to allow authorized access, prevent contaminants (dust) and insects (crawling or flying) from entering the processing facility. The right private label partner takes no chances in matters of food safety and hygiene standards.

Hygiene

In addition to having proper infrastructure which focuses on maintaining hygiene, there should be procedures and training programs to ensure good hygiene is maintained on a continuous basis. Every entrance to the facility needs an attached hygiene station. The online quality checks ensure every unit produced conforms to all the established quality parameters in the premises of the private label tea partner.

The right private label partner with a firm commitment to food safety and hygiene practices qualifies for business links as its role becomes crucial in ensuring the global reputation of the tea brand. Strict compliance ensures better business prospects and long-term partnerships.